Rape Fantasy
Jun. 15th, 2011 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
botiasI've read a few theories about the sources of rape fantasy. It's a subject that interests me. Some are positive, some are negative. One theory that I came across lately was that it was a way that women cope with rape culture and the ever-present threat of being raped.
Full disclosure: I have rape fantasies, and I am an optimist by nature.
This makes me wonder: If this theory is true, there probably will be other examples of people using fantasy to cope. Are crime novels a coping mechanism for the fear of being a victim of other sorts of violent crime? Maybe they are. Any other examples?
My own experience does not necessarily support the coping theory. I was most interested in bodice-ripper novels from the ages of 12-14. The novels published at that time really were atrocious by modern standards when it comes to consent issues. At that age I felt invulnerable. Rape was not even on my radar. I walked home alone from school everyday, choosing my route based solely on reducing distance, and thought nothing of cutting across fields and wooded areas.
As I became older and more aware of this issue, I became less interested in rape in romantic fiction rather than more so, and by some quirk of fate, or because we were responding to the same cultural cues, romance novels evolved in the same direction. It has become an anomaly for the hero to rape the heroine in mainstream romantic fiction. On the other hand, I do enjoy rape fantasies and porn.
My pet theory is that sex and violence/peril are the two things that all animals find very arousing, and there will always be those who think it's fun to double up.
Full disclosure: I have rape fantasies, and I am an optimist by nature.
This makes me wonder: If this theory is true, there probably will be other examples of people using fantasy to cope. Are crime novels a coping mechanism for the fear of being a victim of other sorts of violent crime? Maybe they are. Any other examples?
My own experience does not necessarily support the coping theory. I was most interested in bodice-ripper novels from the ages of 12-14. The novels published at that time really were atrocious by modern standards when it comes to consent issues. At that age I felt invulnerable. Rape was not even on my radar. I walked home alone from school everyday, choosing my route based solely on reducing distance, and thought nothing of cutting across fields and wooded areas.
As I became older and more aware of this issue, I became less interested in rape in romantic fiction rather than more so, and by some quirk of fate, or because we were responding to the same cultural cues, romance novels evolved in the same direction. It has become an anomaly for the hero to rape the heroine in mainstream romantic fiction. On the other hand, I do enjoy rape fantasies and porn.
My pet theory is that sex and violence/peril are the two things that all animals find very arousing, and there will always be those who think it's fun to double up.
